The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biomedicine

Furthermore, close ties exist between the university and the founding director of the new Max Planck Institute, the biochemist Prof. Dr. Dietmar Vestweber. Since 1994 he has headed the Institute of Cell Biology at the Center for Molecular Biology of Inflammation (ZMBE) of the University of Münster, and he works together with several university departments and clinics. From the beginning it was planned that the new Max Planck Institute would have two additional departments. In the spring of 2004 the second department was established, the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology with the internationally renowned stem cell researcher Prof. Dr. Hans R. Schöler at its head. In 2004, due to the addition of new research areas, the Max Planck Society gave the Institute a new name: the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine. In 2006 these two departments moved into the new building constructed specifically for this purpose by the Max Planck Society. The address of the new building is Röntgenstrasse 20 – and it is only a stone’s throw away from the university. 
In 2007 the Institute became complete with the appointment of the biochemist Prof. Dr. Ralf H. Adams as director of the third department, the Department of Tissue Morphogenesis. His research focuses on the molecular signals which regulate the formation of blood vessels – in the embryo when the organ is formed or in disease processes like in the growth of tumors.